DOCSLIB.ORG

Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?  Eleonora Serafi Movska ORCID: 0000-0003-2208-6012 SS

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?  Eleonora Serafi Movska ORCID: 0000-0003-2208-6012 SS ORIGINAL ARTICLE Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed? Eleonora Serafi movska ORCID: 0000-0003-2208-6012 SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj ORCID: 0000-0002-3203-485X SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.13.1(25).2 ABSTRACT: Th e Macedonian-Greek agreement to change the name of the Republic of Macedonia resulted in a referendum. Th e columns of relevant opinion leaders published in electronic media during the offi cial referendum campaign was the focus of interest and research presented in this article. Th e sample comprised 57 columns by 19 columnists. Th e discussion of the fi ndings in this paper is based on framing theory with media content analyses; the template for media monitor- ing was used as an instrument based on human coding. Th e main research question addressed in this paper is: “How are opinion leaders setting frames?” Th e hypothesis is that opinion leaders use diff erent themes and scripts to construct media framing due to narrow public opinion “for” or “against/boycott” the change of the constitutional name. Two negative, emotionally charged frames were identifi ed: the frame “for” promoted positive messages reinforced with ideas about the EU and NATO membership; the frame “against/boycott” promoted messages that Macedonian identity will be lost. KEYWORDS: media frames, opinion leaders, referendum campaign, emotionally-charged words, Prespa Agreement, Republic of Macedonia. INTRODUCTION Th e dispute over the name between the Republic of Greece and the Republic of Macedonia became ‘real’ aft er the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Due to the name dispute, Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations under the temporary reference to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Mace- donia (FYRM). Th is term has been for use only in the United Nations, and does not imply that the Republic of Macedonia has any ties to the former Yugoslavia (Floudas, CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ISSN 1899-5101 .............. 5 ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 5 22020-06-05020-06-05 110:40:160:40:16 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj 2002). By December 2011, 133 countries had come to recognize Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia, representing over 66% of the total number of UN member states. To resolve the dispute, the United Nations acted as a mediator. Th e entry of the Republic of Macedonia into NATO and the EU was on condition that the name dispute between the two countries be resolved. In the spirit of Euro-Atlantic inte- gration processes, the new government of the Republic of Macedonia, led by Zoran Zaev, signed the agreement in Prespa on June 17th, 2018. With this agreement (TNH, 2018), the name of the Republic of Macedonia is changed to the Republic of North Macedonia, erga omnes. In order to declare a change of name, the Government held a referendum with the following question: “Are you for membership of the EU and NATO by accepting the Agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?” (Souli, 2018). In Macedonia, the referendum is a constitutional category regulated by Article 73 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia (Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, 2014). A referendum can be called aft er most parliamentar- ians have voted, or the Assembly is obliged to announce a referendum when a pro- posal is submitted by at least 150,000 voters. Th e decision reached through the referendum is compulsory (Pravo.org.mk, n.d.). Th e referendum on changing the state name of the Republic of Macedonia was scheduled for September 30th, 2018, and the referendum campaign was conducted three weeks before that date. For a referendum to be successful, according to the Constitution, over 50% of the electorate should vote. Th e turnout in the referendum was 36.9%, of which 94.1% were “for” (BBC news, 2018) and according to the government this referendum was a success. Th e change of name was promoted by the ruling parties (SDSM and DUI), by Albanian political parties in opposition supported by the international factor (EWB, 2018) and the president of Albania (BIRN, 2018). Th e Prespa Agreement, from which came the referendum for changing the name of the Republic of Macedonia, was fully supported by the offi cial international pub- lic. According to the statements of the representatives of the Government, such historical changes will lead the Republic of Macedonia towards democratic pro- cesses and Euro-Atlantic integration. Contrary to these, there is the opinion that with these changes the national identity and the historical continuity of Macedonia and the Macedonian people will be lost. Th is opinion was based on the long-lasting struggle of the Macedonian people for their independence. Th e great number of historical facts speaks about the actions and activities of the Macedonian people to show and prove to the world that it is unique and diff erent from other nations. Considering all these political and historical struggles, media reporting during the referendum campaign is a somewhat daunting topic for scientifi c analysis. Of particular interest to this research were the individuals who stood out as leaders in public opinion and whose columns were published in electronic media. During the referendum campaign, several directions (instructions, suggestions for the audi- ence) in those columns (published in electronic media) were identifi ed: Go and vote 6 .............. CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 6 22020-06-05020-06-05 110:40:160:40:16 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed? “for”, Go and vote “against”, Just go and decide which option to vote for, and Boycott the referendum. THEORETICAL CONCEPTS Agenda setting, agenda building, framing Th e foundations of agenda setting theory that speaks to the ability of the media to set a public agenda, to create public awareness and determine the importance of certain issues (McCombs & Reynolds, 2002; McCombs, 2005) have been proven by a number of researchers for diff erent types of media (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Over numerous years of study, the concept of agenda setting has expanded to agenda building and political agenda setting (Rogers & Dearing, 1988; Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006) and from the fi rst level “came” the second-level of agenda setting, framing (McCombs & Ghanem, 2001). All extensions and expansions are import- ant in proving the complex relationship between the media and society. Th is article presents a framing analysis approach of the columns published in elec- tronic media during the period of the referendum campaign for change of the coun- try’s constitutional name. For the fi rst time this term was defi ned by Goff man in 1974 in the book entitled: ‘Frame Analysis, an Essay on the Organisation of the Experience’ though the concept was fi rst given by Bateson in 1972 (Hallahan, 2008) as psycho- logical frames. According to Goff man (1974), people understand what is happening around them through the primary framework for whose presence people are not even aware. Th e primary frameworks can be natural and social, and both have the role of enabling the individual’s orientation in the environment in which he/she lives. Fram- ing as a theory of mass communication is about how information is organized and provided to the audience. According to this theory ‘hot’ events are packaged in a way that can provoke some type of interpretation among the audience. How messages are ‘framed’ infl uences how the audience will perceive the reality, as the audience is not in real, physical contact with the events; people understand the reality mediated through the media, so it can be said that framing is a process of construction of social reality (Scheufele, 1999). Frames are a system of ideas which organize the elements of the text (words, pictures). Th ey are the result of previous life experiences and they are cultur- ally determined. Each word can be a frame for most people or for some. In addition, the same word can be a diff erent frame for diff erent people. Goff man (1974) argued that people see the world through their internalized frames, so each new piece of informa- tion is processed to fi t in with the already-existing frames. Th erefore, those who would like to introduce new ideas, strategies and so on, will have to use culturally known and acceptable ideas and develop new concepts that fi t in with existing frames. As the construction of public opinion is connected to the way experts or leaders frame rel- evant and important events (Chong & Druckman, 2007), it will be challenging to ex- plore and explain how frames are used in a case/cases of polarized public opinion. CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) .............. 7 ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 7 22020-06-05020-06-05 110:40:160:40:16 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj One of the focuses in recent research in political communication is about fram- ing the news/texts published in media. Th e media following a certain discourse and wanting to impose a particular narrative will present the information in a certain way depending on that discourse, or narrative (DeVreese & Semetko, 2014). Th is article presents a framing analysis approach to columns in which the main theme covers the referendum campaign. Th e basic idea of this article is to apply a linguis- tic approach (Matthes & Kohring, 2008) as a method for frame analysis. Th is ap- proach defi nes the framing process in which particular elements of the real world engraved in words are noted and presented as important (Entman, 1993).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 11. Januar 2019
    BILTEN – pregled člankov iz časopisja [11. jan. - 17. jan. 2019] [193] Novice – slovenski tednik na Koroškem, Celovec • »Ples z najlepšimi ženskami«. Avtor: Janko Kulmesch. Novice, slovenski tednik za Koroško, Celovec, št. 1, 11.1.2019, str. 2-3 Slovenski ples 2019 O tem, da je Slovenski ples ples z najlepšimi ženskami, je vsekakor prepričan Paul Vogel, novi direktor Casineuma v Vrbi. Zanj je bil po odhodu predhodnika Othmarja Rescha prvi Slovenski ples. Enako velja za novega vodja Izobraževalne direkcije Roberta Klinglmaira. http://www.novice.at/novice/zabava/ples-z-najlepsimi-zenskami/ Slika: Slovenski ples 2019. Foto: Novice Vrba Slovenski ples, ki ga organizira Slovenska prosvetna zveza (SPZ) s predsednikom Gustavom Brumnikom na čelu, velja brezdvomno za pionirja na področju domače plesne zabave – pionirji pa so bili medtem že pokojni Milan Breznik, Katrica Petritsch, Mirt Zwitter in Franc Brežjak. Leta 1952, 10. februarja, so organizirali prvi ples, ki se je odvijal v hiši celovškega radia ob zvokih plesnega orkestra Radia Ljubljana pod vodstvom znamenitega dirigenta Bojana Adamiča. Ob 60-letnici Slovenskega plesa leta 2012 se je Franc Brežjak spominjal v pogovoru z Novicami: Četrt ure pred plesom je rekel natakar ves živčen: kje ostajajo ljudje? Član plesnega orkestra Radia Ljubljana pa je menil: če bo toliko ljudi kakor nas glasbenikov, bo že v redu. Bilo jih je deset, uro pozneje pa so bili vsi sedeži zasedeni. Tako smo se odločili, da bomo nadaljevali s plesom. Povezali smo se s tedanjim tajnikom SPZ Tončijem Schlapperjem. Tako je že drugi Slovenski ples organizirala SPZ in ga organizira še danes. Na vprašanje, ali so bila proti plesu ideološka nasprotovanja, pa je Franc Brežjak odgovoril: Prvi ples je Naš tednik hudo napadel in menil, da pomeni pogubo naroda.
    [Show full text]
  • Study: Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western
    STUDY Requested by the AFET committee Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them Policy Department for External Relations Directorate General for External Policies of the Union EN PE 653.621 - February 2021 DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT STUDY Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them ABSTRACT Disinformation is an endemic and ubiquitous part of politics throughout the Western Balkans, without exception. A mapping of the disinformation and counter-disinformation landscapes in the region in the period from 2018 through 2020 reveals three key disinformation challenges: external challenges to EU credibility; disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the impact of disinformation on elections and referenda. While foreign actors feature prominently – chiefly Russia, but also China, Turkey, and other countries in and near the region – the bulk of disinformation in the Western Balkans is produced and disseminated by domestic actors for domestic purposes. Further, disinformation (and information disorder more broadly) is a symptom of social and political disorder, rather than the cause. As a result, the European Union should focus on the role that it can play in bolstering the quality of democracy and governance in the Western Balkans, as the most powerful potential bulwark against disinformation. EP/EXPO/AFET/FWC/2019-01/Lot1/R/01 EN February 2021 - PE 653.621 © European Union,
    [Show full text]
  • North Macedonia Political Briefing: Technical Government in Place Ahead of the Early Elections in April Adela Gjorgjioska
    ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 26, No. 1 (MK) Febr 2020 North Macedonia political briefing: Technical Government in place ahead of the early elections in April Adela Gjorgjioska 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: CHen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 Technical Government in place ahead of the early elections in April With the next parliamentary elections less than 3 months away (scheduled for April 2020) the political temperature in the country started to rise throughout the month of February. The next regular parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2020, but Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called for early elections after the European Council failed to come to an agreement on starting talks with N. Macedonia on Joining the European Union in October 2019.1 Announcing the early election on October 19th, Mr Zaev said: "I am disappointed and angry and I know that the entire population feels this way". He also added that Macedonians would now "decide the road we are going to take" alluding to the announcement of the early elections.2 The decision to hold early elections meant that a so-called technical government would have to be formed 100 days ahead of the elections, scheduled for April 12th. The requirement to form a technical government stems from the 2015 Przino Political Agreement, which was reached between the main political parties with the mediation of the European Union amid a deep political crisis in 2015.3 According to the Agreement, 100 days ahead of elections, a technical government is to be formed, so that opposition ministers and deputies are included in several key posts in order to ensure a fair vote and to remove doubts about political pressures impacting the electoral process.
    [Show full text]
  • Usaid/Oti Macedonia Support Initiative Semi-Annual Report November 1, 2017 – April 30, 2018
    USAID/OTI MACEDONIA SUPPORT INITIATIVE SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT NOVEMBER 1, 2017 – APRIL 30, 2018 APRIL 2018 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development and prepared by AECOM International Development. Semi-Annual Report | USAID/OTI Macedonia Support Initiative USAID/OTI MACEDONIA SUPPORT INITIATIVE SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT NOVEMBER 1, 2017 – APRIL 30, 2018 Submitted to: USAID Office of Transition Initiatives Prepared by: AECOM International Development DISCLAIMER: The authors’ views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. Semi-Annual Report | USAID/OTI Macedonia Support Initiative TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction 1 II. Political Context 1 III. Program Strategy 4 a. Strategic Framework 4 b. Activity Highlights 4 i.“In Treatment” 4 ii.National Strategies on Countering Violent Extremism and Counterterrorism 8iii. "On the Same Side" 6 IV. Conclusion 6 Semi-Annual Report | USAID/OTI Macedonia Support Initiative I. INTRODUCTION In 2015, Macedonia’s four major political parties requested that the European Union (EU) and the United States Government (USG) help Macedonia resolve its political crisis. To assist with this process, USAID launched the USAID/OTI Macedonia Support Initiative (MSI) in September 2015 to support the key reform processes outlined in the Przino Agreement. In December 2015, USAID increased its support to Macedonia by expanding this initiative to a full program, implemented by AECOM International Development. MSI is a three-year program with an activated contract ceiling of US $16,202,525. From November 2017 through April 2018, MSI worked closely with Macedonian civil society organizations, media groups and government institutions to implement key components of the reform agenda by: • Professionalizing the Macedonia media environment; • Promoting citizen participation in public discourse; and • Supporting democratic reforms in accordance with EU standards.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom House, Its Academic Advisers, and the Author(S) of This Report
    Macedonia By Jovan Bliznakovski Capital: Skopje Population: 2.08 million GNI/capita, PPP: $14,310 Source: World Bank World Development Indicators. Nations in Transit Ratings and Averaged Scores 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 National Democratic 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.75 5.00 4.75 Governance Electoral Process 3.50 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.00 Civil Society 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.50 3.25 3.25 3.25 Independent Media 4.25 4.25 4.50 4.75 4.75 5.00 5.00 5.25 5.25 5.00 Local Democratic 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 4.00 4.00 4.00 Governance Judicial Framework 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.50 4.75 4.75 and Independence Corruption 4.25 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.25 4.25 4.50 4.75 4.75 Democracy Score 3.86 3.79 3.82 3.89 3.93 4.00 4.07 4.29 4.43 4.36 NOTE: The ratings reflect the consensus of Freedom House, its academic advisers, and the author(s) of this report. If consensus cannot be reached, Freedom House is responsible for the final ratings. The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest.
    [Show full text]
  • Is the EU Taking Friends for Granted? Partisanship and Support for External Actors in North Macedonia Martin Naunov
    WESTERN BALKANS AT THE CROSSROADS: ANALYTICAL STUDY 04 Is the EU Taking Friends for Granted? Partisanship and Support for External Actors in North Macedonia Martin Naunov November 2020 Is the EU Taking Friends for Granted? Partisanship and Support for External Actors in North Macedonia Author: Martin Naunov Proofreading: Zack Kramer Published by the Prague Security Studies Institute, November 2020, Prague The publication is written within the framework of the project “Western Balkans at the Crossroads: Ways Forward in Analyzing External Actors Influence“ led by the Prague Security Studies Institute with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy. © PSSI 2020 The Prague Security Studies Institute, Pohořelec 6 118 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic www.pssi.cz WESTERN BALKANS AT THE CROSSROADS: ANALYTICAL STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary Aggregate survey results have often led analysts to assume referendum. In short, I contend that the party elites’ rhetoric that the “East vs. West” debate in North Macedonia is regarding EU, NATO, and Russia during these events begins not a polarizing issue and that Macedonian citizens are to lay bare VMRO-DPMNE leaders’ strategy to feign loyalty overwhelmingly eager to see their country embedded to the Euro-Atlantic community—thereby allowing them in Euro-Atlantic institutional structures. In this paper, I to reap the economic benefits that EU ties facilitate—while analyze a number of surveys—including surveys by IRI, simultaneously ingratiating themselves with Russia and NDI, and USAID—and show that while virtually all ethnic snubbing key Euro-Atlantic principles concerning human Albanians are in favor of EU and NATO membership, ethnic rights and good governance.
    [Show full text]
  • North Macedonia: in Brief
    North Macedonia: In Brief May 29, 2019 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R45739 SUMMARY R45739 North Macedonia: In Brief May 29, 2019 The United States has supported North Macedonia since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and strongly backs its European Union (EU) and NATO ambitions. (The country’s Sarah E. Garding constitutional name was the Republic of Macedonia until February 2019, when it was renamed Analyst in Balkan and the Republic of North Macedonia.) On multiple occasions, the United States played a key role in Southeast Europe Affairs defusing political crises and interethnic tensions in North Macedonia. For more than two decades, a U.S. diplomat led United Nations–brokered negotiations between Greece and then-Macedonia to resolve their bilateral dispute over the latter’s use of the name Macedonia. With strong U.S. support, in 2018 North Macedonia and Greece reached the landmark Prespa Agreement, which resulted in the name change and resolved their bilateral dispute. Many Members of Congress have supported North Macedonia’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. In 2007, the NATO Freedom Consolidation Act (P.L. 110-17) was passed to affirm congressional support for enlargement and make North Macedonia eligible for assistance under the NATO Participation Act of 1994. Resolutions were also sponsored in both chambers in 2018 to support the Prespa Agreement with Greece and endorse North Macedonia’s bid for NATO membership. Congressional interest in North Macedonia is also connected to broader policy concerns over the influence of Russia, China, and other external actors in the Western Balkans. In 2017, North Macedonia emerged from a destabilizing two-year crisis with a new government that pledged to redouble the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration efforts and enact reforms to tackle the corruption and state capture that took root under previous governments.
    [Show full text]
  • Agata Domachowska North Macedonia Before the April Census
    Editorial Team: Beata Surmacz (Director of ICE), Tomasz Stępniewski (Deputy No. 319 (16/2021) | 27.01.2021 Director of ICE), Agnieszka Zajdel (Editorial Assistant), Aleksandra Kuczyńska-Zonik, Jakub Olchowski, Konrad Pawłowski, Agata Tatarenko ISSN 2657-6996 © IEŚ Agata Domachowska North Macedonia before the April census This year, for the first time in 19 years, a census will be conducted in North Macedonia. The last one took place in 2002, and the decision was made by the Macedonian parliament on January 21, 2021 to finally conduct it after it had been postponed several times. Consequently, the exact number of inhabitants of North Macedonia is unknown. The census continues to evoke political emotions and ethnic tensions. Censuses in Macedonia. Since Macedonia’s declaration of independence in 1991, there have been two censuses in the country – in 1994 and in 2002. According to the data from the last of them, the country had around 2 million inhabitants (2 022 547). Macedonians constitute 64.18%, and the second largest nationality are Albanians – 25.17%. Some Albanians, however, claim that these numbers are significantly underestimated, and in fact they constitute up to 35-40% of the country’s total population. Apart from them, Turks (3.85%), Roma (2.66%), Serbs (1.78%), and Vlachs (0.48%) live in North Macedonia. The next census was scheduled for 2011, initially in April, then postponed to October. Due to strong tensions within the government coalition, however, it was stopped due to technical problems and methodological inconsistencies. In 2018, Macedonia’s Special Prosecutor launched an investigation against former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity, VMRO-DPMNE) and his co-coalition partner Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
    [Show full text]
  • Parliamentary Elections in North Macedonia 15Th July 2020 [
    Parliamentary Elections in North Macedonia [ 15th July 2020 Gerhard Marchl, Karl-Renner-Institut In autumn 2019, the political leaders of the main North Macedonian parties agreed to organise early parliamentary elections on 12th April 2020. These snap parliamentary elections had to be Long Debate on postponed because of the Covid-19 crisis. The decision was taken in a party leaders’ meeting New Election hosted by President Stevo Pendarovski on 17th March. After a long debate over the election Date date, the main decision-makers agreed to hold the elections on 15th July. The agreement came amid a second spike of Covid-19 infections that started at the beginning of June. Since then, the country has registered an average of about 130 new cases per day. Prohibitive measures had to th be reinstated, but the state of emergency as such was lifted by President Pendarovski on 12 June. The Covid-19 crisis has hit the country at an inopportune moment: On 3rd January 2020, the then Prime Minister Zoran Zaev resigned and a caretaker government, led by Oliver Almost Three Spasovski, general secretary of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and Minister Months State of Internal Affairs under Zaev, took office. As required by North Macedonian law, the primary of Emergency task of this transition government is to organize and carry out fair, democratic, and credible parliamentary elections. When the pandemic reached North Macedonia in mid-March, the parliament was already dissolved. In addition, the caretaker government could not function to its full capacity. In order to enable it to take over the legislative function and issue-decree laws in fight against Covid-19, President Pendarovski declared a 30-day state of emergency on 18th March and prolonged it three times.
    [Show full text]
  • Macedonia Political Briefing: the Days After Macedonia’S Referendum Anastas Vangeli
    ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 11, No. 1 (MK) October 2018 Macedonia Political briefing: The Days After Macedonia’s Referendum Anastas Vangeli 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu The Days After Macedonia's Referendum Introduction On September 30, Macedonia held a nation-wide referendum on the proposed change of the constitutional name and on the global orientation of the country. The referendum took place in a tense, stressful and polarized political atmosphere, with Macedonia receiving an unprecedented amount of international attention (see previous briefs). The referendum question read “Are you in favor of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?” The phrasing of the question reflected the complex situation in which Macedonia has found itself: a compromise with Greece on the long-standing name issue, an immensely complex political operation, was seen as a prerequisite for advancing in the accession to the NATO and EU, which has been proclaimed as major strategic goal by all Macedonian governments since the independence. The referendum ended with a contradictory outcome. On one hand, more than 94% of the voters who turned out, voted in favor of the Prespa Agreement. However, the total turnout was far below the threshold – less than 37% of the registered voters used their right to vote; 63% of the registered voters did not vote at all. Below we discuss the interpretations of the outcome of the referendum, and the next steps that the Macedonian government took in implementing the Prespa Agreement.
    [Show full text]
  • Shadow Report on Chapter 23 for the Period Between April 2019 and March 2020
    SHADOW REPORT ON CHAPTER 23 FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 2019 AND MARCH 2020 1 2 SHADOW REPORT ON CHAPTER 23 FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 2019 AND MARCH 2020 Shadow Report on Chapter 23 for the period betweenMarch 2020 April 2019 and Skopje, April 2020 FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 2019 AND MARCH 2020 SHADOW REPORT ON CHAPTER 23 FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN APRIL 2019 AND MARCH 2020 3 Shadow Report on Chapter 23 for the period between April 2019 and March 2020 Publisher: European Policy Institute - Skopje, represented by the Director, Simonida Kacarska, PhD Editors-in-chief: Simonida Kacarska, PhD Biljana Kotevska, PhD Authors: Iva Conevska, LL.M. Ismail Kamberi, LL.M Translator: Daniela Brajkovska Graphic design: Relativ Skopje, April 2020 CIP - Каталогизација во публикација Национална и универзитетска библиотека “Св. Климент Охридски”, Скопје 347.96/.99.047(497.7)”2019/2020”(047) 343.85:343.352(497.7)”2019/2020”(047) 342.72/.73.037(497.7)”2019/2020”(047) CONEVSKA, Iva Shadow Report on Chapter 23 : for the period between April 2019 and March 2020 / [authors Iva Conevska, Ismail Kamberi]. - Skopje : European policy institute, 2020. - 95 стр. ; 25 см Фусноти кон текстот. - Библиографија: стр. 78-95 ISBN 978-608-4702-44-3 1. Kamberi, Ismail [автор] а) Правосудство - Реформи - Македонија - 2019-2020 - Извештаи б) Корупција - Спречување - Македонија - 2019-2020 - Извештаи в) Човекови права и слободи - Заштита - Македонија - 2019-2020 - Извештаи COBISS.MK-ID 51316229 This publication has been supported under a CIVICA Mobilitas Programme. The opinions presented in this publication are opinions of the authors and not always reflect the opinions of CIVICA Mobilitas, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (CDC) and organizations implementing the said Programme.
    [Show full text]
  • North Macedonia: in Brief
    North Macedonia: In Brief Updated September 9, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R45739 North Macedonia: In Brief Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Domestic Situation .......................................................................................................... 2 Politics..................................................................................................................... 3 Renewed Euro-Atlantic Integration .............................................................................. 5 Economy.................................................................................................................. 8 Foreign Relations ............................................................................................................ 8 NATO and EU Membership ........................................................................................ 9 Relations with Russia and China ................................................................................ 10 U.S. Relations .............................................................................................................. 12 Figures Figure 1. Republic of North Macedonia .............................................................................. 2 Figure 2. July 15, 2020, Parliamentary Election Results ........................................................ 5 Contacts Author Information ......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]